It was with the greatest sadness to report that our former international player John Cheshire died on 4th September, at the age of 91. He was our oldest surviving player.
Born in Wattsville, Cross Keys, Wales, in 1933, John first took up rugby union, before signing for Salford from his local club, Cross Keys, in 1955, and making his league debut on 20th August, in a home game against Doncaster. He was a classy centre with a reputation of being an extremely reliable defender, something acknowledged by Australia’s second row forward, Rex Mossop, after a match between their two sides.
Although there was no official Wales international side, at that time, an unofficial Welsh side was brought together in 1959 to travel to Toulouse to take on the French international side, with John not only being selected, in his familiar role of centre, but also scoring a try, in their 25-8 defeat by the home side. The game is now included in the record books, alongside a list of the participants, which, considering the attendance of 25,000, would seem only just and fair. His family are still in possession of the French jersey for which he had swapped his own with that of his opposite number.
Salford’s loss of goal-kicker Syd Lowden, on his return to Workington Town, saw John most surprisingly take over that role, though he had never considered himself to be such. His sense of responsibility allied to his dedication to the club, however, ensured he was to undertake the role to the utmost best of his ability, and he was consequently rewarded by being the club’s top goal and points scorer in the successive seasons of 1959/60 and 1960/1, with 59 and 53 goals, respectively.
He played his last match for Salford on the 9th March 1963, remarkably, once again, against Doncaster, but this time away, before moving to join Oldham. Sadly, he did not seem to settle in there very well, and he played a mere ten matches for them, with the last one being in the September, just six months after his move there.
In total, he made 255 appearances for Salford over eight seasons, scoring 43 tries, 141 goals, making a total of 411 points.
He remained exceedingly loyal to Salford throughout the whole of his life, despite having moved back to live in South Wales. He always attended special events at The Willows, such as the centenary celebration match v Widnes, 1979, and was a regular attendee at what was first known as The Red Devils’ Dinner, and later became The Lance Todd Dinner, right up until shortly before the pandemic.
He was most fortunate to have enjoyed the best of health right up until a very recent brief spell in hospital, where, sadly, he passed away.
His funeral will be held at Sirhowy Valley Crematorium, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, Gwent, NP12 2YT on Friday 27th September, at 5.00pm.
Acknowledgements: Graham Morris – club historian and author of ‘100 Salford Greats’
